psychology defines schizophreniaas an impairing, delusional disorderborne in the person’s inexorable inabilityto tell right from wrong,hopeless fantasy from harsh reality,or even suspicion from acceptance

but aspen is a lovely, flexible womanwith names of imperial animal racesthat never belonged to them,with the countless colors of her eyes thatshe makes up with named numberswritten in cursive sharpie on her palms

she takes pills that seem todampen & take away those charmingthings she always says to me;the voices don’t haunt or tease her,they’ve always respected the way shecounted with willpower & the way she lived

psychology defines schizophreniaas a disorder in which one cannot escapetheir head long enough tostop the thoughts of self-destruction,to halt the onset of war on theirbodies as the asphalt hits their head

but aspen is a star amid the wreckagewhen she asks you to hold heruntil she can’t hear the bad numberscrunching her ears into littlepoor, frostbitten pieces& maybe she could fall asleep with her love

she has surmounted the galaxies& has seemingly swallowed them whole,stating they tasted like glass & the number 343written in green like flowers eaten by butterfly wings until the sunlight bites the dust& nothing matters anymore (not even the bad numbers)

psychology defines schizophrenia as a disorder where one cannot carefor themselves, let alone help out & keep up with others who have a life to livewith the normality of the commonplacehousehold with such absence of color

but aspen, she knows life like no other;she holds on like a lion to a broken gazelle’sbones, & she knows the difference betweenthe night sky & the dark grass tickling herflip-flop clad & sock bound feetas she hums the alphabet to the national anthem

i don’t care what psychology defines this horrific “schizophrenia” as – there is no horror in her supposed disorder,no fear in her diagnosed insanity,no psychosis in her verdicts, & there is onlysplendor in her insights that break set limitations

& are revised in my history, anticlockwiseuntil i can’t inhale under the vastbeauty of her strung-together decreesof her discernments that just don’t seem worthyof this indecent world that dares to define her as“diseased”

Psychology's take on the disorder of schizophrenia, and then the narrator's. Do you see a flaw with the usage of the word 'diseased' being thrown at that girl?

Edit 1: OH MY GOSH. 39 favourites?! Gah, you guys make me want to cry. Thank you so much for all the favorites and kind comments! You have made my day!

Edit 2: I AM NOW CRYING. Thank you so much, you all! 53 favourites. Thank you..

Edit 3: A DAILY DEVIATION?! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW THANKFUL I AM FOR ALL OF YOU!

Edit 4: I just want to clarify that, for one, I am not promoting or romanticizing mental disorders. I was trying to make light of the disorder rather than just dwelling in its presence in a negative way. I realize that schizophrenia is nothing to romanticize and that's most certainly not part of my intentions. Both myself and my significant other have suffered from mental disorders for most of our lives (and hers matches Aspen's sometimes), therefore, I understand completely what I'm putting out there.

Lastly, this is NOT psychology's exact, precise definition of schizophrenia, however, parts of these definitions are in the actual definition. This is more or less society's point of view on the disorder as they like to only point out the negatives rather than promoting the fact that there is a way to soften its affects.

Daily Deviation

As in Taoist faith, there is a yin and a yang to schizophrenia. The author clearly understands the yang of schizophrenia, in an intimate way, and is unafraid to present the yin as it reflects. A moving homage to the love of his life. The line about the numbers crunching in the woman's head is a beautifully tragic way of describing the confusion and extreme assault faced by people with schizophrenia when they're overwhelmed by more information than the human mind ordinarily processes on a conscious level. The author shows great promise, and I, for one, would like to see what the author comes up with in the future.

This is beautiful, I come from a family of mental disorders ( i hate the word disorder, makes one feel stupid don't you think) and this truly captures schizophrenia as a whole. People describe people with schizophrenia as crazy and not wanting the see the person under the problem. So all in all, this is a truly beautiful poem. :3

You've taken me beyond what could be described as "rational" and "sane", into what I can only call a wonderland of mixed emotions and morbid beauty.

After reading this three times repeatedly, I showed this to my mother and told her to also read it, and I found her just as full of awe as I was, even though I had to translate some of the words since her native tongue is not English.

On her behalf, and on mine, I want to congratulate you for making something so unique and so oddly comforting.

I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia a while ago now. It's been a long, tiring journey with this condition, but my psychiatrist and therapist have been wonderful help to me. It's hard to accept it and live with it, but I try not to see it as something completely negative. I always found art to be very therapeutic for me as I could express what I was going through with it. And even though some days can be a nightmare, I don't see it as something that stops me from being who I am or from stopping my life being a success. People used to bully me about it, which made me feel very negative about it at the time and in turn made my voices constantly tell me I was a failure and that I wouldn't get anywhere in life. I was determined not to let this be true. And I showed them. I studied as hard as I could and got 98.3% in my university level paleontology exam. It might not be a whole lot to other people, but to me this was proof that I wasn't going to give in and be a 'failure'. So I'm happy with what has happened and am starting to see life more positively now.

This was a very nice poem for me to read. It is very beautifully written and you have a lot of talent for writing. I think it will also encourage people to see schizophrenia in a different light. Thank you for writing this.

Yep. I think for a bit, people were ready to riot in LA. He was harmless and was beaten so heavily by policemen that he was in a coma. There were even surveillance videos of him crying for them to stop and calling for his dad.

I commend your literacy and ability to stay objective at controversial subjects enough to view multiple perspectives. I enjoy reading the judgement vs faithful personification. This is one of those pieces that shows self compassion. I used to do a lot of role-playing so having multiple voices in my head isn't exactly uncommon. It is funny because the problem isn't the complaints in your head. The voices are just letting you be aware of problems. When you listen to the voices in your head and resolve problems then there can be peace, for the most part. Fear is just another subset emotion caused by a stronger loss of another emotion for instance joy. The problems do not lie in our symptoms. It lies in our inability to solve a problem that is causing the symptoms. I find it wonderful to see pieces of faith and right to life (I also do not mean this from a religious standpoint). I will not be taxing on your for not writing a report or having perfect grammar. It's a poem. That's why it is called a poem.

If you want to know what "psychology" defines schizophrenia as, I suggest you take a look in the DSM V. While the DSM V is an abomination from my humble point of view it reflects the scientific consens (as if such a thing even existed) about what disorder is what. While your writing is pretty, I do not see this reflecting realistically at all what "psychology" thinks about schizophrenia, rather some ill-informed assumptions about what it would say. Another thing I have my gripes with is the romantization of mental disorder (even something as severe as schizophrenia, and geunine schizophrenia is a severe condition). While all experience is justified, we have to draw a line where lifes are at stake.

I know, I've read the DSM V many times, believe me. I wasn't using the information from my own knowledge, I was using it from a societal point of view. And I still can't seem to understand how I romanticised schizophrenia. If you would, please explain.

opYou have chosen to describe the pretty face of schizophrenia, so to speak. While that is all just and good, it is only part of the bigger picture. Reading the poem almost conveys the message that schizophrenia doesn't need to treated, which is most certainly neither right nor ethic given the condition is severe enough to be considered clinically significant. Further, it portrays a picture of "psychology" (and by that token, science as a broader field) as the "enemy", which is rather paranoid from my humble point of view.

Well, yes, I have decided to describe the "pretty face" of schizophrenia for three reasons: because all that's ever shown is the "ugly face", because some people with schizophrenia don't need to be locked up and treated for years, and because I am taking advantage of my creative freedom to explicate that schizophrenia can most definitely be surmounted. I only wanted to show folks that not all forms of schizophrenia are bad, or if you will, debilitating but rather, some can be psychologically uplifting.

I am glad this is moving people to no disable people based on a mental predisposition. It is society that disables people not afflictions. But as medical student, drawing the line between poetic license and incorrect statements is difficult. This is very nice, but not all of it is true when it comes down to definitions. But I do appreciate this work of art, as art. So well done

For a long time I kind of thought of schizophrenics as "diseased" , although it was more like someone might think of a sick 5 year old. That they needed love and care but weren't fit for the real world ( I think health class is partially to blame here) But a friend told me she read a story about a schizophrenic who hated being thought of as diseased and lived life mostly normally. This changed my mind, and this piece reinforced and reminded me of those feelings.Your poem is AMAZINGLY WRITTENThe imagery and how the words just flow and stand out creates a vivid idea of Aspen, and how much you seem to care about her is very clear

Sorry this was a bit wordy and ranty, but I really wanted to let you know how AMAZNG I thought this was